Oh cool! Another great offer for an Oprah Winfrey magazine — this one is a new decorating publication called “O at Home.”

You get the free winter issue and no auto renewal, and nothing to cancel!

Click here to get your free O at Home magazine.

Hi everyone … longer post later. (Sorry about none yesterday — house guests arrived,
and I had to play the host with the most. Everything has been going great, and I have split pea soup in the crockpot (here is the great recipe) and French bread baking in the breadmaker — a great way to save money.)

At any rate, as much as I love home-keeping, home-caring or any other euphanism you care to call it, everyone has that one task that they despise.

So the question du jour is:

Which housekeeping chore can you not stand to do, and why?

I’ll start.

Mine is laundry, even though I have streamlined it with these tips, I still cringe with the thought. Honestly, I would rather scrub a toilet any day. I put some thought into it, and figured out the reason I don’t like to do laundry is that there is only this small window of a sense of accomplishment. I’ll explain …

You set out to do laundry, and get all the whites, colors and darks done. The baskets are wonderfully empty. But then you decide to take a shower, and — boom — there are now dirty clothes. What, I got all of 5 minutes when it was all done!

Anyway, take a moment and share the one chore you despise … it will be fun to vent (and read).

Hey, just saw this — looks like they have more samples available of the Dunkin’ Donuts ground coffee!

Click here to order your sample.

Just wanted to pass it along, Remember, this ran out quickly a couple days ago, so order it right away.

OK, enough tips for now, how about a really good laugh to add to your day? I was rolling watching this clip from Drew Carey’s “Whose Line is it Anyway?” show. You gotta love Richard Simmons — he’s so exuberant — and his guest appearance during one of the program’s skits just made a great start to my day. Hope you enjoy it, too!

I’ve got three quick tips for you today, because I’ve been invited to write a guest post on highly rated Sisterlysavings.net, but you know I always think of my loyal readers first.

So, let’s get to the tips:

Hope these tips help, and I’ll keep you posted on the guest post!

I just found tonight that we are having overnight houseguests on Thursday! But I am calm, because with a little planning, I can make the stayover happen with ease (in two days!).

Tonight, I addressed menu planning. I will need to provide two dinners, one lunch. and at least one breakfast. (If they stay Friday night, too, I will punt on breakfast.)

But what matters is not the menu, but the planning. I am convinced that the biggest part of cooking is the prep — dicing, measuring and shopping. If you can knock these three tasks ahead of time, you can knock the socks off your guests.

So tonight, I did what I could — I measured the dry ingredients for cornbread and stored in the mixing bowl (a great tip!), pre-diced the carrots, and pre-chopped the onions. I am so ahead of the game! I rounded out the night by writing a list of what I need to pick up at the store, which is not a lot.

I also planned an easy menu — the first dinner entree can be made ahead of time and put in the oven, the second dinner will be in the crock pot. Breakfast will be pre-mixed (cornbread) or pre-cooked (the maple-roasted bacon). I’ll just need to scramble eggs (and you know they will be pre-mixed).

My point is planning — and doing a little ahead of time — can make your life so easy. Of course, I’ll prep the guest room for them using these tips. But that can wait till Thursday morning.

I’ll say it one more time — planning will make your life so easy. That is the secret to entertaining, as noted in this post. A little here and there results in you being relaxed. To help in that regard, you know I will have the Cosmos ready to go Thursday night, but they’ll be done Wednesday, using this tip.

Finally, if you’re curious, here is the menu plan:

Dessert for both dinners will be a homemade (OK, box) two-layer cake. Even Prohomemaker takes some shortcuts. But I hope you can see how these tips build on themselves.

Wow, three great freebies today — free sample of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, free bag of Purina cat or dog food, and free sample of Vaseline lotion.

Click, and get ready to receive from free stuff!

It’s always great to start the week with some free stuff!

Prohomemaker is pooped! But I used so many skills tonight that I just had to share. (Click anything in bold for the tip, and see how well it works!)

First, the reason for my poop-ness, I had lunch with a client, showed property to him, and then showed property to another client, then performed some duties as president of our Homeowners Association. Yes, I have a career life beyond blogging, you can see it all here.

But the Prohomemaker skills came into action when I got home!

First thing I did was sort through the stack of mail to get rid of that pile. (By the way, got free samples of Prilosec and Pantene in the mail today!) Next, I changed into something comfy, and then put some fresh towels out in the bath for tomorrow from the organized vanity. The house was neat because I followed the tips in this post — I just had to plump the sofa and pillows.

Dinner was a breeze because I pulled out of the freezer one of my cook once, eat twice dishes — this time it was Chicken a la King, which was made with the pre-roasted chicken breast recipe found in this post. I made the rice fresh, but defrosted the entree in the microwave and heated it on the stove. Of course, it was a little thick, so I thinned it using my quick chicken broth. To add a touch of freshness, I easily minced some fresh parsley to sprinkle on the top.

Dinner got rave reviews from my partner, who thankfully picked up milk at the grocery store, and used my great reuseable grocery bags. (And you can get a free one with the link in this post!)

Of course, we just loaded all the dishes in the dishwasher, because I did the morning routine before I left.

Finally, after such a busy day, it will be wonderful to retire in a hotel-like bed that is already turned down. Can’t wait!

See how these tips can make your life easier? They all add up to make a simple day, even on the busiest one!

Am I the only one who relishes staying in a hotel? I tried to figure why, and it came down to the fact that I love those crisp sheets, and the joy when you climb in bed.

After my last stay, I decided that I was going to try and re-create that feeling every day. No, I am not washing my sheets every day, but I am turning my bed down each evening.

I don’t mean just yanking the covers down and climbing in. Each night, while dinner is cooking — a couple hours before bed — I go prepare my bed. I take the decorative pillows off, the shams, and turn the comforter and sheets down in a neat — hotel-like — manner, wrapping the sheet around the comforter.

You don’t know how wonderful it feels to climb in a bed that is ready for me when I am ready to retire. (And, yes, this is my bed in the photo.) It’s also great for sleep, in that it’s a ritual, telling your brain that the day is over.

Little luxuries are important, especially in these times. Find more affordable luxuries with these posts.

Try turning your bed down this weekend, and see how you like this extra bit of luxe. It takes 3 minutes, but can make the world of difference when you finally go night-nights. As my Mom would say to me when I was a kid, “Sweet dreams.”

With escalating food and sundry prices, it’s become so clear the best tactic is to shop at multiple grocery stores. Gone are the days of doing shopping at one market — you need to maximize your savings by hitting the specials at two to three stores.

I can hear the groaning now — sure, it’s less convenient, but the savings will make it worth it. And you and yours will still enjoy a similar — if not better — standard of living.

Once a week, I get all the store flyers in the mail, that’s my first step in making my shopping strategy. Look for the big specials — they usually have a larger photo or larger price noted. It’s easy. I jot down those for each store on a notepad. By writing down the specials, you’ll soon see which store fits your household’s needs the most that week. Don’t worry, it’s usually only two markets. It will become very clear.

The best part is with a list, you can get in and out of each store quickly. I was 30 minutes at one place today, and then 20 minutes at another store, but I got (among other specials):

I’m adamant that multiple-store shopping is the best tactic nowadays. Combine it by reviewing the specials for your store at Couponmom.com and you have a winning strategy to keeping the most food and products in the house at the lowest price!

For more grocery store tactics, click this link for some great posts. And, for tips on maximizing coupon savings, check out the multitude of posts here.

Like I said, I think in these times we need to think out of the box when it comes to saving money.